Reaction
by Tahiri Solo
Summary: Something has always bugged me about The Emperor's Plague: what was Jaina's reaction to Zekk finally coming to the academy? I mean, we know she must have been ecstatic, to say the least. I wish it was in the book, but since it's not, here's my take on it.


Reaction  
By Tahiri Solo  
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Disclaimer: The characters, places and such mentioned in this story are the property of Lucasfilm. I do not own anything. I am in no way making any money off of this story. If this story bears any resemblance to stories written by others, it is purely coincidental. No infringement is intended.  
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Jaina Solo was sitting on her bed in her quarters in the Jedi academy, tinkering with some small piece of machinery. She assumed Zekk would be leaving again soon. She hated it when he left.  
Watching him walk up the ramp of his ship and leaving her yet again . . . She wasn't sure she'd be able to take that again. It hurt to much.  
To her dismay, Jaina realized she was crying. "Don't leave me again," she whispered, not bothering to wipe away her tears. "You have no idea how much you mean to me."  
She hugged her arms around herself, trying not to let her quiet crying go into full blown weeping.   
Jaina stayed that way for several minutes, sniffling, until a soft knock on her door snapped her out of her gloomy reverie.   
Expecting it to be her brother, Jaina jumped when Zekk walked in.  
She hurriedly tried to hide her tears from him, but he saw them anyway.  
Zekk immediately walked over and sat next to her on the bed, his eyes filled with concern. "Jaina, what is it? What's wrong?"  
She refused to answer or even look at him, afraid he would see her private torment and very strong feelings for him. She didn't want to risk losing his friendship.  
But to Zekk, the absolute worst thing in the galaxy was seeing her upset, and he gently cupped her chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. "Jaina, tell me what's wrong. Please," he said softly, carefully brushing away her tears.  
Jaina wanted to turn away and ignore him, but the concern and worry for her in Zekk's emerald eyes made her admit the truth. "I just don't want you to leave again," she whispered, feeling her cheeks burn. "I hate it when you leave."  
Much to her surprise, Zekk started laughing. "I hate leaving too," he said, his eyes sparkling. "You don't know how much. That's why I'm not. I just had a talk with your uncle. I'm staying here at the Academy."  
Zekk would never forget the look on Jaina's face or her reaction. She shrieked and threw her arms around him, knocking them both back onto her bed.  
Zekk laughed and hugged her back, her straight brown hair drifting into his face and tickling his chin.  
It took Jaina several seconds to realize that she was laying on top of him. When she did, she blushed furiously and quickly scrambled up. "Sorry," she apologized. "I'm just so happy, I kind of lost it there for a minute."  
Zekk flashed a grin at her, his eyes sparkling mischievously. "Don't worry. I didn't mind."  
Jaina's eyes widened at this, and Zekk had to laugh. She looked so cute when she was surprised. "Come here. It's not like we don't have reason to celebrate."  
Jaina immediately flung herself into his arms, and clung to him fiercely, burying her face in his shirt.   
He realized she was crying, and Zekk wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair. "Jaina, don't cry, please," he begged. "I hate seeing you cry."  
She shook her head, her face still pressed into his chest. "I'm so happy, I can't help it. You don't know how long I've waited for this."  
Zekk hugged her tighter. Rubbing her back, he whispered very softly into her hair. "Jaina, I've missed you too. It makes me sick to leave. But I had to - I couldn't face you after what I did and almost did to you. You're the most important person in the galaxy to me. I can't believe I hurt you like that. I'm so sorry . . . ."  
Jaina snuggled up closer against him, speaking without words.   
She sighed in contentment, absolutely loving the feel of being so close to Zekk, enfolded in his arms. She thought she could stay like that forever.  
Zekk felt the same way. He would never hurt her again; he couldn't. He would give his life for her. She was the most important thing in the universe to him.  
  
They had no idea how long they stayed like that, but finally, Zekk pulled back. "People'll be wondering where we got off to," he said reluctantly. "We'd better be going."  
Jaina nodded with a sigh, her tears long gone. She sniffed and wiped her face on her sleeve.  
Zekk smiled slightly and caught her wrist, stopping her. He then began tenderly brushing her tears away himself.  
When he was done, he smiled at her, and she beamed back up at him.   
Taking her hand in his, he said, "Come on. Let's go find the others."  
  
  
  
A/N: This is not my first fanfic. However, it is the first one I've posted on FF.N, so if there's something wrong with it, please don't flame me. I'll learn to fix it eventually. And please, please, please review. I just started back to school (ugh) and I could really use some encouragement!! = )  



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